Benefits Beyond
the Classroom

Benefits Beyond the Classroom

For the last nine years, Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School has completed a biennial survey of its students, staff and parents. Throughout this period, the overall satisfaction rating of the School has remained consistently high at around 80%. What is most interesting, however, is the importance that is placed on those activities that occur beyond the classroom,- the options to participate in sport, music, arts, camps and exchanges.

Parents value the variety of co-curricular opportunities on offer to their children, the focus on wellbeing and personal development of students and the camp program. Nearly 90% agree that the camp program is an integral part of the educational experience offered by our School.

Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School offers an extensive camp program that begins in Year 1 and evolves as students’ progress through the School. These camps aim to challenge each student, helping them to build strong friendships, develop specific skills and discover more about themselves.

‘Coming into the camp, I learnt a lot about myself and others. By the end, I was very glad I had the chance to get to know people outside of my immediate friendship group. I learnt many things from camp but the things that will stick with me are the strong sense of trust that we all shared, the challenges that we all overcame and most importantly, the many laughs that we all had,’ said Ross, about his Year 9 camp experience in 2019.

Year 5 students also found their camp experience extremely valuable saying, ‘Year 5 camp is crucial for making friends, learning about new cultures and, overall, having fun. It is a great way to help students think of school more positively. We think Year 5 camp was the best because everyone helped each other to do their best throughout the activities’.

Outward Bound is another camp experience which has become a rite of passage for Year 10 students at the School. ‘Outward Bound was certainly an experience to remember. I made friends with people I had hardly talked to before, I did things I would never have been motivated to do on my own and I achieved things I would never have thought I was able to do,’ Henry explained in 2019.

While some camps in 2020 were interrupted due to COVID-19, the School has been fortunate enough to be able to reschedule the majority of these to a later date. The value placed on these activities by parents, students and even staff, demonstrates the importance of providing students with opportunities to grow, learn and develop, beyond the classroom.